X
Hearth's Warming, twelve days previous
Luna walked through the streets of Canterlot, relishing the cold bite in the wind, and the crisp crunch of snow underhoof. Perhaps it hadn’t been the best day, and maybe it hadn’t been the best year, but she couldn’t help but take a small pleasure at the way her breath frosted in the air in front of her. There was just something about the winter that she loved, all the silence and the solitude and the snow
Of course, on Hearth's Warming eve, in Equestria’s capital, there was very little of the first two to be found. The streets were filled with ponies, the windows with light, the air with merry laughter and distant floating song. It was beautiful, but a different sort of beauty than the kind found on a mountain, when the snow fell in sheets and the whole world was hush. Luna supposed it was her more outdated sensibilities.
Already, a small throng of ponies had started to trail her at a distance, tittering amongst themselves at the sight of their much more solitary princess. She just lifted her head in a dignified manner, and continued towards the blazing lights of the Canterlot Operahouse.
While in other towns, the Hearth’s Warming play was just a fun little tradition, the Hearth’s Warming Pageant in Canterlot was spectacular yearly production. The actors were some of the best in Equestria, the sets were beautiful, the music wonderfully written and beautifully sung. Other cities tried to keep their own pageants up to par, but the only true one could be found in Canterlot, attended by the princesses themselves.
Normally, Celestia would have accompanied her, biting her tongue and forcing a smile for what had to be her least favorite holiday, but the past two years, ever since Twilight had gone, she had declined. Even though it meant that Luna had to go alone (Iit would be scandalous if neither princess showed up), she didn't blame Celestia for her decision. It had been hard enough on her dear sister before.
She climbed the steps to her box seat, flanked by guards, as the orchestra warmed up in front of the stage. The hall was packed, like usual, but Luna got to watch in comfort. The likes of her private room, with it’s padded, cushion laden couch, and every thinkable amenity, were not available to even the most well funded of the Canterlot elite. She was gracious, of course, but none of it could quite suppress the fact that she would rather not be there. Luna just wished that the whole Hearth’s Warming story had faded into obscurity, like most everything else from the time before Discord. Just like Celestia had intended it to. Instead, Hearth’s Warming had clung stubbornly to the memory of ponies, changing, yes, but remaining just true enough that Luna had been forced to see her sister biting back tears every time they put on the stupid, flamboyant production, painful memories shining behind her eyes.
Luna waited, the babble of the ponies below her fading to a soft drone as she lost herself in thought. Then, silence. The curtain raised.
She had heard the whole opening spiel of the play so many times that she could have recited it by memory, had she wanted. Time before harmony, three tribes, strife, snowstorms, and so forth. Yes. She knew. She had lived it.
Then came the meeting of the leaders of the tribes, the arguing, the barbed comments and insinuations. There would be an entire musical number about it, Luna knew, all focusing on the pettiness and stupidity of the leaders. It took all her self control not to curl her lip in a disgusted sneer. She had known these ponies. Not as well as Celestia had, not even close, but she had known them well enough to see that they had been good, and noble, and kind. Of course time, time and the fickle memory of the public had twisted them, turned them into warped, laughable shadows of what they had been in real life. Luna bit her lip in frustration, watching it.
Her gaze settled on the pony playing Princess Platinum, who was currently speaking in a high, whining falsetto. No, no. Wrong. Platinum Polish was not that pony.
Platinum had been a strong, charismatic pony, who had cared for everypony, a bit too much, probably. She had brought out the best in ponies, buffed even the most unlikely of individuals to a brilliant shine. When Platinum Polish spoke, ponies listened. She may not have been the best strategist, or tactician, but she had made up for it ten fold with the sheer dedication she had put into her work. She had treated everyone as an equal, from her lady in waiting Clover sShine, to the lowliest unicorn peasant. Luna had been too young to have really known her, but she could still remember seeing Platinum in the castle, and the enormous respect she had felt for her then.
She sighed and shook her head, as actress portraying Hurricane Flash took center stage and began to sing, cuing the beginning of the first musical number in the program “Different and Strange”. Even though she knew how much it hurt her sister to force herself through the Hearth’s Warming Play each year, Luna half-wished that Celestia were there with her, if only so they could suffer together.
Hurricane Flash stormed about the stage, singing, stomping, and puffing her wings out aggressively as others began to join in in chorus. The actress had clearly spent time mastering the angry, hot headed, unsympathetic demeanor always seen in the character, year after year. All wrong, wrong, wrong.
Hurricane had been bold, yes, she had never backed down from a fight, yes. Hurricane had been taught from a filly’s age that might meant right. All true. But Hurricane was also the bravest pony you would ever meet. She would have fought a dragon with her bare hooves if it meant protecting her friends. She would have died rather than let anything harm her fellow ponies. Hurricane hadn’t worked her way to Commander’s rank by luck, or accident. She was a leader, and she inspired the respect, and even love, from the ponies she commanded. Luna had only met her once, but she had known from that very first meeting that Hurricane was the kind of pony that other ponies strove to be like.
As the pegasi finished their chorus, the earth ponies, and the pony playing Chancellor Puddinghead, began their portion of the song. Chancellor Puddinghead pranced about the stage, tripping over herself, and making slapstick jokes, and singing a whole verse about chocolate before one of the other earth ponies tapped her on the shoulder and reminded her that they were talking about the snowstorm. Luna grimaced. They were definitely playing up the “village idiot” shtick this year.
Pudding Pie, though she had often been called puddinghead, had been a sweet, good hearted pony, who wanted nothing more than to keep the people of her village happy. Even though her special talent had been baking. If Luna was to be honest, Pudding really never should have been in politics. But when her father (who had possessed a talent more conducive to leadership) was killed by a manticore, it had fallen on her withers, as his eldest daughter, to take up his mantle...And she tried. She tried so hard.
Nopony put more of their heart and soul into leading than Pudding Pie did because, despite her inexperience, and lack of skill, she couldn’t stand to see the ponies in her community suffer. So “Puddinghead”, the chancellor/baker tried her best. Again, and again, and again. When Luna had first met her, she had almost been able to see the goodness in her, shining out like a light.
Did Hurricane and Platinum and Puddinghead fight? Of course. They were three different ponies, who were scared out of their minds, scared for their people, and carried several hundred years of tribal tension ever-present on their backs. When the three met to discuss the storm, they fought like dogs. They fought for what they believed was a noble course of action in a dark, frightening time. They didn’t fight like they did onstage, just shouting angrily because they were petty, or cruel, or stupid.
The musical number ended, the audience applauded, and Luna grit her teeth. As she watched, the lights went down, and there was a quiet shuffling as the stage hoofs worked to change the set pieces. Then the spotlight blazed on again, now setting the scene in the pegasus city, where Commander Hurricane was screaming something at the terrified Private Pansy. On stage, the two were total opposites.
In life though, the two had been like family. Pansy Bloom’s mother had been an earth pony, an incredibly rarity in those days, and it had marked her as a subject of ridicule and derision from the moment her father had brought her to the clouds. Everything from her earth pony name, to her weak flying skills, to her reserved nature, had just set her further apart from the other pegasi. All except Hurricane Flash. None of the other pegasai could fathom why the commander kept a private who couldn’t fight, with the special talent of hospitality of all things, as her second of command in the military, but Commander Hurricane wasn’t the type to abandon a friend.
None of the six founders of Equestria had been.
The lights went down, and the scene changed to the unicorn capital, spotlight shining on the actress playing the part Clover the Clever. As the apprentice to Starswirl the Bearded, she was fittingly introduced through a song about magic.
Starswirl himself was a footnote, really, in the Hearth’s Warming play. His name was dropped a cursory two times throughout the course of the play, and then he was never mentioned again. Luna supposed it was because they didn’t have much to go on. Starswirl’s research and spells had survived the millennia, but his personal life had faded into obscurity. She suspected the only reason he was mentioned at all was as a shout out to his small following of magic geeks. It was a shame, really...or maybe not. He had not exactly been an...easy...pony, in life.
There was no denying his brilliance of course. Starswirl had been a genius, plain and simple, and anypony who claimed otherwise was dead wrong. He was the founding father of modern magic, and had a hoof in over half of spells today. Every single pony who ever broke a bone had Starswirl to thank for the healing charm that mended it. Over the millennia, the only unicorn that had even come close to his power was Twilight Sparkle.
That being said, most of the magic buffs who worshipped Starswirl’s name would have been sorely disappointed by their idol in the flesh. He probably wouldn’t have even bothered coming out of his lab to greet them. Luna remembered how, for many years, he had coldly rebuffed the affection of even one of his only friends, Clover the Clever.
Luna, though, Luna had known Starswirl well, and not just the cold, uncaring side he displayed to most of the world. He had been a good pony, really. Though not many other than Clover Shine might have agreed with her on the fact. Not many ponies, even at the time, knew the reason he had been shut in his lab all the time, the reason he threw himself so wholeheartedly into magic. Only a very select few knew that the spells he had created were just happy accidents, the unintentional by-products from his never ending research into his true goal: saving his little sister’s life.
Moonglow, eight years his younger, had been born with a rare disorder, one still untreatable even over one thousand years later, which caused her immune system to attack her own natural magic. Instead of the normal magic surges that occurred in unicorn foals, she had seizures as her body fought the energy that was trying to be channeled through her horn. At the age of five, Moonglow had been fitted with an inhibitor ring to prevent the attacks, but that didn’t solve the bigger problem. Her body had also been busy eating away at her own life force, the latent supply of magic all ponies are born with, that connects them to the universe, and keeps them alive.
Eventually, left unchecked, it would kill her. But Starswirl wasn’t the kind of pony who took no for an answer.
Luna closed her eyes, a small shiver running down her spine. No, Starswirl had been a pony of contradictions, capable of both boundless love, and uncaring cruelty, filled with equal amounts of kindness and spite. He was a pony who had spent his whole life balanced on a razor’s edge between light and darkness, who had been both exalted by his greatness and trapped by it. It was probably for the best that most of him had been lost from history, because while Luna had loved him, she knew that others would not. She wasn’t sure if she could have stood seeing him twisted like Platinum, or Hurricane, or Pudding pPie.
Sighing, Luna gathered herself and looked back to the stage, now in the earth pony village. At least, she thought, they had gotten Smart Cookie about right. She had been just about the same. Practical, level-headed, the perfect down to earth mind to balance out Pudding Pie’s flighty idealism. Those two had been made for each other, really. A perfectly paired set of friends.
Luna smiled, just slightly, her eyes softening. They had done Clover the Clever pretty decently too. Out of all of Equestria’s founders, Luna had known Clover Shine the best, and she was just as smart, and resourceful, and kind a pony as they had portrayed. Probably just a little bit better actually...tThey had met when they were just fillies, both of them, and even though Clover was older, they had been fast friends since that very first moment. Clover had been different. She didn’t act all gruff and stern like Starswirl, or loud and mean like the other foals in the castle, she had been the only one who had treated Luna like a pony, and not the strange anomaly everypony else had seemed to think she was. It had felt, Luna remembered, as if her life had suddenly opened up. All thanks to Clover.
Luna bit her lip, blinking. She didn’t know why she was getting so worked up, she had seen this awful pageant nearly four hundred times and she’d probably see it thousands more until the Equestria crumbled or the story was finally worn fully away from ponies’ memories. Whichever came first. Maybe it was just the timing of the thing. The second year anniversary of Twilight’s disappearance was only a month or so away, and Celestia hadn’t been taking it well. Just last week marked one of her and Luna’s uglier fights in recent memory, and while things had stabilized, Luna could see Celestia slowly fraying. She wished that she could just erase the whole, ugly situation. Rip it from everypony’s memory like all the other ugly things they had ripped from history. Luna couldn't even tell what was right anymore. Nothing was right. Nopony was right. Right had simply ceased to make sense to Luna ever since the time before Discord, where everything had gone wrong and just gotten worse by the century. All she knew is that when Twilight had been around, Celestia had been the happiest that Luna had seen her since they were both young, and now Twilight was gone and her sister was falling apart at the seams. Luna just wanted everything to be right again. She just wanted to go back to before Twilight, before Nightmare moon, before Discord, before the Celestia-damned Elements of Harmony, to when things had been okay.
Luna sobbed softly, wings shaking slightly. She closed her eyes and pressed her hooves to her damp cheeks, ears flat against her head, whimpering slightly. Then she remembered herself. Swiftly wiping her eyes, Luna horn and turned to her guard, his concerned expression instantly turning blank the forgetfulness hit him. She mumbled a soft apology as his eyes crossed and then refocused.
“Did you say something, Princess?”
“...No...N-nothing. Thank you.”
Wiping her eyes with a hoof, Luna returned her focus to the play. It was just about wrapped up, thank Celestia. All the ponies were coming out on stage to sing the final song of the play, the Heart Carol. There was no denying that it was certainly a cheerful note to end the pageant with. Nopony really knew what happened to the founders after that. There was nothing in the history books, no mention of them anywhere other than their single adventure defeating the windigoes. Many ponies doubted that they had ever existed at all, except as a cautionary tale about compromise and acceptance. Again, Luna thought it was probably for the best. She felt that, if ponies knew what happened in those years after Hearth’s Warming eve, they might not think of Clover as a hero. They certainly wouldn’t portray her as kindly in her Christmas pageant.
Luna wouldn’t have blamed their judgement, but at the same time, she disagreed. Clover had been a good pony. She had been a hero.
Clover hadn't known, when she and her friends discovered the magical source of that fire they had conjured, the giant crystalline tree buried deep inside the cave, that it would tear apart their lives. She hadn't known, when she devised a spell to harness that ancient magic to defend their young Equestria from monsters, that her ‘Elements of Harmony’ would suck the very life from her as she used them. She hadn't known, when she asked their friends to help her with a spell she thought could save her life, that she would be cutting her ties to mortality, and sentencing them to early deaths. She hadn't known, when she married Starswirl, that it would fall apart as soon as they discovered that her spell wouldn’t work on his sister, that he would turn to much a much darker power to save Moonglow’s life...that he would succeed.
Maybe she should have known, she should have guessed, she should have been more careful, but Luna couldn’t hate her for it. She just couldn’t.
Because, from the moment they met in Platinum's castle, the young apprentice and the sick, outcast filly, to the moment Clover married her brother, to the moment they met again, both carrying wings and heavy hearts, they had been more than sisters by friendship, or sisters by marriage, or sisters by fate. Moonglow and Clover might as well have been sisters by blood.
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I was hoping for the full ballad of Puffy Fluffy with all the songs, but this one is also ok, i guess
It would help the tale of Hearth's Warming if the sister's told them the truth of it. At least how the leaders really were so this play is the torture for you? Well you made it one by letting the lies fester.
You want things to be better Luna, then find some way for Twilight and Celestia to reconcile and the best way for that is swear never to use the girls with the Elements again.
Interesting headcanon. I haven't seen one where Luna and Celestia weren't sisters by blood.
interesting. quite interesting.
Moonglow is Luna and Clover is Celestias hmmmm?
Interesting take. I like it. I'm guessing that Discord is Starswirl or maybe another known entity... Sombra possibly.
Still doesn't really explain why Celestias let Twilight and friends use the EoH. More so if she was planning on ascending Twilight from the start. Seems like more than a little callous.
WHAT.
Well, that's a new origin story for the Princesses, certainly.
So to ascending Twilight, she needed Twilight and her friends to use the EoH. She know that the EoH would slowly kill Twilight's friends but Celestia wanted Twilight to be around...
And She did not even tell them that using the EoH would shorting their lives.
But why does Celestia not want Twilight to have her friends back? I still don't understand that.
6370525
Oh rad. Thanks.
6370563
Rewinds tape.
Oh rad. Thanks.
6370537 i think its implied that they have now been resurrected three times. they were originally the five of the six founders. they were reborn as twilight's friends, and now they are reborn once again.
yeah she made a major mistake. though i guess she hoped that, as they could use the elements in such a way and, perhaps even later, were infused with the tree of harmony's very power, that they would be spared
honestly the latter is my question. the tree of harmony is something that has an intelligence to it, considering how it behaves and reacts. Why would it let the bearers just die as they did?
6370504 she had intended on having them help rescue luna from the nightmare moon's influence.
she loved twilight too much and likely lied to herself on the chances for the rest.
the issue i do have though is that they at some point were infused by the very power of the tree of harmony. rather than some median, the tree of harmony itself gave tis might to them. so why would the tree not heal what harm the elements caused them, considering they literally made the elments of harmony their own?
This was a really interesting chapter. Pretty nice twist on the end as well!
So, are the Mare Five the actual reincarnation of Equestria ' founders?
Because if It's true, Clover /Celestia is really a bitch.
what the fuck
I am going to guess that this was twelve after prior to the last chapter? So, Clover was the one to find the Tree of Harmony? Starswirl created all those spells because he was trying to save his sister? Did he succeed?
Jeez
Ten chapters in and I am still about the same amount of confused as when I began reading this story.
Maybe it is all this allusion without much explanation, or maybe it is the odd (for me at least) format.
Then again it's probably due to the fact that I'm deciding to read this at 6:00 in the morning and not having slept a wink all night.
It's probably that.
The concept is intriguing, the portrayal piques my interest enough to want to know more, and overall this tale seems to be missing a bit of garnish here and there but that's inconsequential at best.
I'll definitely need to give this story another read-through or three, preferably when I am not running on empty.
Right now all I see is a vague evil/morally apprehensive thing that Celestial did that killed Twilight's friends, a vague plot involving Twilight herself in some way that didn't happen or hasn't fully happened yet, and a vague allusion to what really happened around the time of Equestria's founding, all In addition to what is happening in the present day of this story.
To me it seems that I'm complaining a lot more than I originally thought I would, considering I enjoyed reading this and look forward to when I can make sense of this web of confusing allusions.
*chuckle* Actually, looking(read: skimming) over the comments right now it seems other people know what's going on here.
Maybe I can join their ranks once I acquire a few hours of slumber under my belt and re-read this peachy little fable.
Until the next long-winded comment then, I suppose.
Woah, so Celestia is Clover and Luna is Moonglow??!!!!!
And the Elements of Harmony actually kill their users?! So that's why Twilight's friends died?!
Hmm.
I think with this last chapter we have officially moved into dark territory, a weird kind-a sort-a happy/dark but still dark with all the cruel implications in this last chapter.
6371038
Before I even read your post, I thought it would be hilarious if Celestia ended up as Moonglow and Luna as Clover.
6370463 I'm pretty sure reconciliation is not a realistic hope at this stage.
Celestia/Clover is the architect of her own misery.
6371113 yes Celestia screwed up big time but the key is the girls.
6371126 Even if the girls survive at last, that does not erase what Celestia has already done. Sometimes, it isn't enough simply to apologize.
6371133 not saying it's going to easy. But possible.
6371133 then she must somehow make amends, perhaps by finally letting go of all the secrets that shes been keeping from Twi and explaining herself fully...without the 'cryptic mentor' stuff getting in the way...
Wow incredible twist, so that's how the elements were formed and the Celestial sisters were 'born'.
Very good work.
6371038 From what I gathered so far from the story only the element of Magic kills it's user due to being the one that channels all the power, far more power than even the strongest of unicorns could wield safely, the only way to save the user is ascending, but doing so drains the energy of the other bearers to power the ascension...
6371164 I would have to disagree.
6371238 I don't honestly think she can make amends. Open up, give a full and honest explanation? Sure, but is Twilight likely to accept that as reconciliation? I doubt it.
An interesting little twist. Clover became Celestia, and Moonglow became Luna.
The darker powers that Starswirl will turned to, does that mean he became Discord or Sombra?
6371422 perhaps, but it is a start. and a start is never a bad thing. while it is true that nothing could ever go back to exactly the way it was in the past, the link can be repaired between them. it will take time...a great deal of time and effort, on behalf of both of them, but it can happen
6371465 Twilight has done precisely nothing immoral or wrong in this scenario. The wrongdoing, and the burned bridges, are on Celestia entirely. If she convinces Twilight to forgive her, it is more than she deserves.
6371422 well look at what happened. In this universe a mortal using the Element of Magic is fatal over time. Celestia was willing to sacrafice Twilight for Luna but over time she regreted that choice so she used the Elements to transfer the cost to the other girls. That is the sticking point for Twilight. Her friends were murdered so she could live. This is also why she hides. She is afraid that Celestia would use them again. Though unlikely have a direct negative since Twilight is now immortal thus the danger is gone.
In the end Twilight doesn't want to lose her friends like that again. All that Celestia has to do is pledge not to and stick to it.
6371479 no side is entirely blameless, and Twi is no exception, she chose to abandon Celestia, so say such hurtful things to her because of her friends deaths, to hide from Celestia. morally wrong, no, but hurtful none the less. the bridge was cut from both sides, this cannot be denied in any way. and Twi has done something somewhat immoral, rebirthing her friends after they died. but as i said, there is blame to lay at the hooves of both sides, not just Celestia, not just Twilight...mistakes were made, but it will take effort and time to correct them
6370606 exactly this is one of the major plot holes for this story.
Frankly I find that the Elements harm the user as bad. You get a similar affect if it wasn't the elements directly that cause their deaths but the opponet they faced. If the enemy they faced could have a negative affect on the EoH that killed the others and Celestia knew this as a possiblity then Twilight would still be mad and driven to get them back.
If I was to change one thing it would be this issue.
6370476 I have. Overcoming the Day. In that till Twilight's birth Luna was the last natural alicorn.
6370537 Slightly wrong. The Element of Magic requires an mortal to bear it. anypony else will slowly die from using it.
Clover made a critical mistake long ago that caused the death of the Founders and her elevation to Celestia.
Desperate to get the only familyt she has left she sends Twilight to Ponyville nothing it will kill her, maybe not that day but using Magic once shortens Twilight's life. Her love for Twilight caused her to make the same choice she did long ago causing Twilight's assencsion.
Honestly if the girls were used again their will be no issue. Twilight is immortal and can handle Magic without problems and the other Elements didn't have this issue till the cost transfer. But after so long and hard work Twilight is afraid of losing the girls again like that.
This... brings a dark theory to my mind. This 'darker power' mentioned makes me think of the Dark Magic that Sombra used, and leads me to my theory... Starswirl's sister Moonglow... is this Luna's true identity? And if so, then does this mean that Celestia is, in fact, Clover?
Talk 'bout morbid curios'ty, aye? Def'nit'ly sommat t' think on.
... Surprise indeed... so the 'Element's of Harmony' are not so peaceful as we once thought hmm?
So, 'Moonglow' hmm? 'Nightmare MOON'? I have no idea who Clover could be and, urg.
It makes me depressed how everything in pony history has to follow a set pattern, of this kind of 'happy go lucky' place, where ponies can be judgmental, stereotypical, and hide all of their ugly faces under the guise of 'friendship' and 'harmony'.
Here, we have a very real description of such, here we have a fairy tail that has pieces snipped out of it, not just for children, but for adults as well, this is just... URG, if they knew all this, the sisters should have put it in a library, I hate how they try to put all of this inside the trapdoor under the rug, like, it's something that 'better left alone', no, fuck, no.
When the truth is ugly, it should be kept from those not ready for it, I understand, but EVENTUALLY, they will, for these threats, and facts, lost and never known apart from two princesses in history?
... It's an injustice, being remembered as a idiotic, naive, fool with the title of a leader, a whining, complaining excuse for a princess, and a hotheaded, cruel warmonger of a general. This is put into OFFICIAL plays, for the regular pony! For the populace?!
These are the leaders that led to the Equestria of today... Luna and Celestia knew who they truly were and what they did... Gah.., would you want your efforts, trials to be remembered like this? Would you want it to be kept a secret under the shroud of stereotypical bullshit slung in the image you crafted for yourself?!
... Sometimes, you have to wonder if wings and a horn really mean you should be a leader, with Luna being out of the loop it's obvious she isn't up to the times, and with this rainbows and sunshine world that Celestia created yet never yet it grow into maturity... and Twilight, she hardly is fit to govern.
*sigh* ... Exit stage right.
orig08.deviantart.net/8e53/f/2013/154/1/e/life_cycle_of_star_swirl_the_bearded_by_celestiathegreatest-d67os0n.jpg
Great Scott! Moon Glow is Luna, Clover is Celestia, and Starswirl is Discord!
But if that's true, it means that Celestia herself lived through everything she put Twilight through and worse. It means she knew exactly what she was doing the whole time. She knew.
A background story with a tragic twist ending. And I can understand Luna's sadness at watching the play. She knew all the players in it and can only weep internally at there memories being butchered. And what's worse is Celestia knew the price of the Elements, just knew it and then let Twilight take up the mantle knowing the price paid before will be paid again.
6371514 I'm pretty sure that "Oh hey I tricked you into murdering all your best friends so I can keep you around forever" is pretty solid grounds for Twilight abandoning Celestia the way she has. Hurtful words don't even register on this scale.
I don't have much sympathy for you, Luna. Some, but not much. Between yourself and Celestia, all of your suffering is of your own design.
6371565
It is obvious that Clover is Celestia while Moonglow is Luna.
Loving the story quite a lot even though I feel the situation could have been averted if Twilight just talked to Celestia at her doorstep instead of freaking out and revealing the foals. BTW, I sure do hope that in the end Celestia and Luna will have to pay for their crimes and mind games once the truth gets revealed. It is obvious that they are manipulating others with their magic and I'm pretty sure it was them who taught Twilight the "Want-It-Need-It" spell which, as she said, "works EVERY time" meaning she herself used it a lot. If it can make ponies love a doll, what says it can't be used to make ponies love and obey their "godly" rulers? I think Celesta and Luna should be more worried about Twilight getting so fed up with their lies that she outright goes and reveals everything to public.
Also, if the world was PERFECTLY FINE before they were "born", I assume that they are lying about controlling celestial bodies. The planet existed long before ponies even evolved to have sapience so I find the whole thing completely unfeasible, not to mention reality-breaking and, as far as we know, totally impossible.
Ooooh, I can't wait to see them do something foolish like forcefully trying to alter Twilight's memory and turn her into their slave to feel better about themselves and secure their position. I hope Twilight will kick them REALLY hard once they fail and goes for the kill by revealing the WHOLE truth about EVERYTHING. They have the TV and stuff like this so it shouldn't be too hard to sow the seeds of doubt if not outright rage.
Hot. Damn.
Now THAT is how you pull a plot twist. Absolutely amazing.
6371514 Celestia saved twilight by killing her friends. Twilight brought them back so they could live their lives. Not seeing were Twilight went wrong there, she is justified in hating Celestia, and seeing as her ascension took her friends life before their time she's not really morally wrong to try to bring them back.
6372203 except that Death must be even handed...a barrier that must not be crossed. Twilight disturbed the land of the dead just to get her friends back...not allowing them to rest
That is the scam on TF3 scale...
Dayuum, I thist thinked that C&L were children of Platinum, as many writers portray it. But if CloverXStarswirl and DiscordXCelestia - I think we have a chance for the "Discord is Starswirl" theory to show up as well. It would be cliche what the autor clearly wants to avoid.
6372236 which I would agree with if they had died of old age, natural causes, or an accident. They were murdered unknowingly by Twilight because of Celestia, Twilight owes her immortality to her feiends, and sacrificing her womb and time to raising them so that they could have a chance to live again is a moral high in my book.
6372112
... Alright, 1, okay, Celestia and Luna are Clover and Moonglow, fair enough.
2... DAFUQ man, that was going WAY into fanon of fanon at that point, I mean, dude? I admit that the 'Want it need it' spell is kinda sketchy, but you are kind of going mass conspiracy theory, fanon, on a fanon piece, mayeb they simply love Celestia and Luna because, you know, YEARS of the time they spent developing the world?
Please just... don't.